Most current known loader latching systems require an operator to remove or to install pins to disconnect or attach the loader to the tractor and/or have latching systems that are complex and unreliable. United Kingdom Patent Application GB 2,131,391 A, published 20 Jun. 1984 discloses a loader boom comprising a pair of arms having respective masts pivotally attached to their rear ends and having a hydraulic boom lift cylinder coupled between each mast and arm for effecting raising and lowering of the arms of a mounted loader. A latching system is provided for respectively attaching the pair of masts to a pair of loader support frame plates joined to opposite sides of the tractor frame. The latching system includes a bushing and spring-biased latch hook carried by each mast, and a bushing receptacle provided in the top of, and a latch block fixed to, each frame plate. Mounting of the loader to the tractor is effected by manipulating the masts such that their respective bushings enter an associated one of the support plate bushing receptacles and such that the spring-biased latch hooks engage a deflecting surface of an associated one of the latch blocks and are deflected to respective positions permitting the latch hooks to move over the latch blocks, with the latch hooks then moving to respective latched positions wherein the latch hooks are engaged with respective notches provided in the latch blocks.
A drawback of the loader latching system disclosed in the published United Kingdom application is that, when disconnecting the loader from the tractor, an operator must manually move the latch hooks to respective unlatched positions and hold them in their unlatched positions while manipulating hydraulic controls for operating the boom lift cylinders to effect disconnection of the loader masts from the frame plates.